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Top barrister, Robert Richter QC, will no longer represent Cardinal George Pell in court for his sentence and appeal, saying he is too emotional and angry about the guilty verdict handed down by the jury.

Key points:

Robert Richter says he will be available to help Pell's team and is angry and upset at the outcome

He denies his decision is linked to an apology he made after describing Pell's offending as "plain vanilla"

The senior barrister says he continues to have every faith in Pell's case

Pell was convicted of sexually abusing two choirboys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.

He is due to be sentenced on March 13 but has already lodged an appeal.

"I'm too angry and upset at the outcome to bring the objectivity that an appeal requires," he said.

Mr Richter said he will still be available to help Pell's legal team and is convinced he had a strong case in overturning what he called "a questionable conviction".

"I will not be arguing the appeal myself simply because I believe the Cardinal deserves someone who can be dispassionate enough to present the case to the Court of Appeal," he said.

Robert Richter, Cardinal George Pell’s defense lawyer, said Tuesday that he has not quit the prelate’s legal team. A Melbourne daily had earlier reported Richter will not be part of the appeals process.

Pell, prefect emeritus of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, was convicted in December on five counts of sexual abuse stemming from charges that he sexually assaulted two choirboys while serving as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996. He has maintained his innocence, is appealing his conviction.

It was the cardinal’s second trial, as a jury in an earlier trial had failed to reach a unanimous verdict. The first jury were deadlocked 10-2 in Pell’s favor.

At a pre-trial hearing, Richter had noted that Victoria Police had launched an investigation of Pell in 2013, searching for complainants, calling it “an operation looking for a crime because no crime had been reported.”

Following the jury's verdict, Mr Howard, who has known Pell for about 30 years, submitted a glowing character reference to the court. It praised Pell's intelligence, sincerity and "exemplary character".

Such stances have caused profound hurt to survivors, says ABC journalist Louise Milligan, author of the book Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell.

"I've been contacted by many, many Australian Catholics who are devastated by the way the Church is handling this issue," Milligan told the BBC.

"They are also greatly upset that political leaders continue to side with a convicted paedophile - and that is what Pell is, a convicted paedophile - over his vulnerable victim and the grieving family of his other victim." (One victim died of a drug overdose in 2014.)

Milligan said families were also furious that an article by prominent Jesuit priest Frank Brennan challenging the jury's findings was being "handed out to their children in school".

She noted that during her own Catholic upbringing she had been "taught the principle of 'love one another as I have loved you'", adding: "That these people who describe themselves as Christians could do the very opposite - and not understand how profoundly hurtful this is to the victims - is astonishing to me."

Aspects of the pro-Pell supporters' arguments have found some weight with law experts, however. Prof Jeremy Gans, a University of Melbourne criminal appeals and procedure expert, says Pell's lawyers have a chance of winning an appeal on the basis of unreasonableness.

This argument says the jury delivered a verdict that was not supported by the evidence.

Meanwhile Pell's barrister, Robert Richter, said on Tuesday that he was too emotional and angry about the verdict to continue representing the cardinal, but would still help the defence team.

Cardinal George Pell could be released from custody next week if his appeal against his child sex abuse convictions is successful.

Key points:

If the jury's verdict is judged to be unreasonable, Pell's conviction will be overturned

If the judges find the court erred, a retrial could be ordered

The appeal outcome could itself be subject to a High Court appeal

The Victorian Court of Appeal will rule on whether to overturn Pell's convictions for sexually abusing two choirboys when he was archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.

It was announced today that judgment will be handed down on Wednesday, August 21.

A jury found Pell guilty last December of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of committing an indecent act with a child, making him the highest ranked Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex abuse.

Three judges have scrutinised the case and will take their seats behind the bench to announce their decision from 9:30am on Wednesday.

The proceedings will be live streamed on the Supreme Court of Victoria's website.